19 May 1939

Yesterday Tomorrow

1936: COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Joint Army-Navy Board reduces mission of the US Army in the Philippines to defense of the Bataan Peninsula and Subic Bay and established war with Japan as the most likely threat to US security. (Marc Small)

May 19th, 1939 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Northern Ireland: The keel of HMS ADAMANT, a 15,000 ton submarine depot ship, is laid at the Harland and Wolff shipyard.

The TUC (Trades Union Congress) agrees to support conscription plans.

The first prototype of the Vickers Wellington MK III heavy bomber is flown for the first time today by test pilot Mutt Summers. (19)

U.S.A.: Destroyer USS Anderson commissioned.

Light cruiser USS St Louis commissioned.

19 May 1940

May 19th, 1940 (SUNDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group (Whitley). Bombing - oil targets at Gelsenkirchen and Dorsten. 58 Sqn. Six aircraft. All bombed from low-level (2 - 8,000 feet). Severe opposition. 77 Sqn. Two aircraft. Both bombed, one badly damaged by Flak. 102 Sqn. Four aircraft. Extremely severe opposition, one FTR.

Churchill makes his first broadcast as Prime Minister, calling Nazism "the foulest and most soul-destroying tyranny that has ever darkened and stained the pages of history."

NORWEGIAN CAMPAIGN: (Mark Horan) At 0800 the three carriers were at position 70.27N, 15.47E, but weather conditions were such that no operations could be flown on this date. At 1115 word arrived that Bardufoss would be ready to receive the Gladiators of 263 Squadron on HMS Furious on 22 May, while Skaanland landing ground would not be ready for 46 Squadrons Hurricanes on HMS Glorious until 26 May.

On her first patrol, U-122 transported material to Trondheim during the Norwegian campaign - one 88-mm Flak with ammunition, some bombs, 90 cbm (some 750 barrels) fuel for aircraft and motor oil.

Western Front: RN: W class Destroyer HMS Whitley is bombed two miles off Nieuport on the Belgian Coast at 51 11N, 02 40E. After sustaining severe bomb damage she is beached off Nieuport and destroyed by gunfire on the same day from HMS KEITH. (Alex Gordon)(108)

The Wehrmacht High Command announced:

The Luftwaffe has effectively supported the Army advance. Its main stress has continued to be on the enemy's rear communications, traffic installations and paths of retreat. Bombs dropped on several airfields destroyed hangars, repair sheds and aircraft on the ground.

FRANCE: The German Panzers halt near Pervine and St. Quentein. Rommel's 7th Panzer division is near Arras.

The first discussions between London and the field commanders about possible evacuation from France occur today.

The Germans today have a pause and re-organisation. Because of this, "enemy pressure against us was not very strong", as Billotte declared in the afternoon to Georges, and his armies carried out the withdrawal decided upon the day before without much difficulty. The Belgian Army took up positions on the canal at Terneuzen (between Terneuzen and Ghent) and on the Escaut as far as Audenarde. The British Army withdrew to the Escaut between Audendarde and the French frontier (Maulde), and the First Army to the Escaut at Conde, Valenciennes and Bouchain.

Further, on the extreme right of No. 1 Army Group, the British formed a hooked defence line facing south, in the triangle formed by Arras, Doullens, and Saint-Pol, to protect their lines of communication. The mechanised divisions of the French Cavalry Corps were ordered to re-group on the right flank of the BEF in the Arras-Douai area.

The only French offensive action is an attack by 4 Armoured Div., towards the Serre, 9 miles to the north. Colonel de Gaulle started the action at dawn with the intention of seizing the bridges at Pouilly, Crecy, and Mortiers, and cutting the Germans route to La Fere.

Meeting no opposition at first, the armoured division only came to grips with the Germans at the Serre, the crossings of which were heavily defended by Germans, supported by heavy artillery. Without infantry and sufficient artillery, the division was incapable of forcing a crossing.

GERMANY: U-357 laid down.

KENYA: 11 Squadron SAAF equipped with twenty-four Hawker Hartebeeste ground support biplanes and a single Fairey Battle deploy to Nairobi.

U.S.A.: Roosevelts replies to Churchill's request for help. He says that the loan or gift of destroyers would have to be approved by Congress and the time was not opportune.

With respect to Churchill's other requests, he would facilitate to the utmost the Allied Governments receiving the latest United States equipment.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: MS Erik Frisell sunk by U-37 at 57.25N, 09.15W .

19 May 1941

May 19th, 1941 (MONDAY)

GERMANY: In return for greater collaboration from the Vichy regime. 100,000 French PoWs are released.

The OKW calls upon soldiers to eliminate all resistance ruthlessly, particularly Bolshevik agitators, partisans, saboteurs and Jews.

CRETE: The last RAF fighters leave for Egypt.

MALTA: Lieut_General Sir William Dobbie appointed Governor and C-in-C.

ETHIOPIA: Sgt Nigel Gray Leakey (b. 1913), King's African Rifles, halted an assault by taking one tank and leading an attack on others before being killed. (VC) [The cousin of Dr.Louis Leakey, the famous anthropologist]

Amba Alagi: The largest Italian army still fighting in Ethiopia formally surrendered today. 18,000 Italian and colonial troops have marched out of the fortifications into prison camps. Few Italian troops now remain to be "mopped up" in Ethiopia.

The Duke of Aosta surrenders with 7,000 more Italian troops. Of the 230,000 Italians that started this campaign in East Africa only 80,000 remain.

Many of the prisoners returned to India or Australia or aboard the 'Queens' passenger liners that had taken the commonwealth soldiers to the North Africa and the Middle East. About 20,000 were in Australia. The rest went to other Commonwealth countries. From May 1943 the Italian prisoners were employed as farm labourers without supervision but under the supervision of nearby control centres staffed by the army. They were paid a minimum of one pound and the scheme was generally considered a success by the Government the prisoners and the farmers. The prisoners were not repatriated immediately after the war because of shortages of shipping, but all had returned home by January 1947. (Jim Paterson)

IRAQ: British forces based at Habbaniya capture Fallujah.

Baghdad: Iraqi Headquarters announced:

Our bombers have attacked British tank units, which have suffered substantial losses in men and material. Our reconnaissance flights over Cineldebbana and other locations have proceeded without incident. Enemy aircraft overflew the area surrounding the capital and released several bombs over the base at Rashid without inflicting much damage.

AUSTRALIA: Minesweeper HMAS Pirie laid down.

CANADA: Submarine HMS Talisman departed Halifax to escort Convoy SC-32.

U.S.A.: The New York Times reports an address by Dr. Fritz Reinhardt, German State Secretary of Finance in which states that, "with the German tax and other ordinary revenue estimated at the record sum of 40,000,000,000 marks for 1941 and the war debt considerably smaller than that of Britain, the finances of the Reich are in a healthier condition than ever and there can, therefore, be no question of using the printing press for the financing of the war."

Destroyer USS Murphy laid down.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-69 on her long voyage that paved the way for long-range U-boat operations off the US East Coast, refuelled from German tanker Egerland. At this time several German tankers and supply ships were at sea partly in preparation for the breakout of Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.

At 0324, the Empire Ridge, a straggler from Convoy HG-61, was torpedoed and sunk by U-96 90 miles west of Bloody Foreland. The master, 27 crewmembers and three gunners were lost. One crewmember and one gunner were picked up by destroyer HMS Vanquisher, transferred to HMS Legion and landed at Greenock.

19 May 1942

May 19th, 1942 (TUESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

Rescue tug HMS Empire Fairy commissioned.

Frigate HMS Spey commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Zenith laid down.

GERMANY: U-520 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: A strong German counterattack at Kharkov in the Ukraine against the Russians begins.

ICELAND: While at anchor at Hvalfjordur, some of the crewmen of the U.S. freighter SS Ironclad break into a cargo of liquor that is being shipped to the U.S. Ambassador in Moscow resulting in fights among the crew. The officer in command of the Armed Guard reports the incident to the battleship USS Washington (BB-56) and a detachment of marines board the ship and restore order.

CANADA: Ottawa: Canada is becoming the "aerodrome of democracy", President Roosevelt announced today as Allied representatives met to co-ordinate air strategy. Rossevelt's words were conveyed by his assistant war secretary, Robert A. Lovett. The Russians sent no one.

Since the Empire Training Scheme began in Canada in December 1939, almost 50 flying schools have been opened. An enlarged scheme was signed on 5 May, and soon 4,000 aircraft will be in constant use. The scheme, operating in Australia and Rhodesia as well as Canada, will be able to train 20,000 pilots annually. The first 2,200 have already graduated. Volunteers include thousands of Americans.

U.S.A.: Three more armed U.S. merchant ships are sunk by German submarines. Two freighters are sunk in the Gulf of Mexico, one off Louisiana by U-506 and the second near the Yucatan Channel by U-103. The third freighter is sunk south of Navassa Island Light in the Caribbean by U-751.

Destroyer USS Laws laid down.

GULF OF MEXICO: At 08.56 hours on 19 May 1942, the unescorted Heredia was hit by three torpedoes from U-506 two miles SE of the Ship Shoal Buoy, while proceeding on a nonevasive course at 13.5 knots. The first and second torpedoes struck the port quarter aft at the #3 and #4 holds. The third torpedo struck amidships on the starboard side, causing her to sink within three minutes. The explosions blew the decks up, stopped the engines and destroyed two lifeboats and two rafts. The survivors of the eleven officers, 37 crewmen, eight passengers and six armed guards (the ship was armed with one 3in and two .30cal guns) had no time to launch boats and only two rafts got away. 23 survivors were picked up by the shrimp trawlers Papa Joe (1), Conquest (2), J. Edwin Treakle (10) and Shellwater (10) and landed at Morgan City, Louisiana. A seaplane picked up three other survivors and landed them at New Orleans. Six officers, 24 crewmen, one passenger and five armed guards were lost.

CARIBBEAN SEA: At 1040, the unescorted and unarmed Isabela was torpedoed by U-751 35 miles south of Navassa Island Light. One torpedo struck on the starboard side at a coal bunker at the waterline slightly abaft the bridge. The explosion caused extensive damage, immediately stopped the vessel and killed two firemen and a coal passer on watch below. All partial bulkheads on the main deck and above broke and jarred the galley range off its foundation, causing it to fall through the tremendous hole in the various decks at least to the bottom of the ship and perhaps right through the bottom. The U-boat then surfaced and began shelling the ship off the port side from about 350 yards. Four shots were fired before the surviving eight officers and 26 crewmen abandoned ship in two lifeboats and three rafts and three shots after it. The ship finally sank over the bow with a port side list at 1058 hours. The men on the rafts later transferred to the boats the next morning and they rowed to Cape Briton, Haiti. One lifeboat made landfall in 18 hours and the other in 30 hours.

19 May 1943

May 19th, 1943 (WEDNESDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: The USAAF VIII Bomber Command in England flies Mission Number 59: 123 B-17 Flying Fortresses are dispatched against the U-boat yards at Kiel, Germany; 103 bomb the target at 1329-1333 hours local and claim 48-7-21 Luftwaffe aircraft; six B-17s are lost. A smaller force, 64 B-17s, is dispatched against the naval yards at Flensburg, Germany; 55 attack the target at 1325-1328 hours local and claim 12-4-14 Luftwaffe aircraft; no B-17s are lost. An uneventful diversion is flown by 24 B-17s.

Destroyer HMS Cavendish laid down.

Frigate HMS Bentinck commissioned.

Destroyer HMS Talybont commissioned.

Frigates HMS Dacres, Domett, Foley, Garlkies, Odzani launched.

Minesweeping trawler HMS St Agnes launched.

Destroyer HMS Urania launched.

GERMANY: Berlin: Goebbels announces that the city is free of Jews.

U-545, U-717 commissioned.

U.S.S.R.: Black Sea Fleet and Azov Flotilla: BP "ChF-6 "Pervansh"" - by shnellboat, in Gelenjik-Sochi area (Sergey Anisimov)(69)

ITALY: 2nd Lt. Louis Curdes, USAAF, 82nd FG, 95th FS shoots down two Me-109s near Villacidro, Sardinia. (Stuart Kohn)

TERRITORY OF ALASKA: On Attu Island in the Aleutians, the Southern Landing Force tries to advance against Japanese opposition at Point Able on the eastern shore of Holtz Bay.

Six B-24 Liberators and eleven B-25 Mitchells of the USAAF fly three air-ground support missions bombing Sarana Valley. Four P-40s fly two reconnaissance missions to Kiska Island.

CANADA: Frigate HMCS Orkney laid down Esquimalt, British Columbia.

Tug HMCS Glendower launched Owen Sound, Ontario.

U.S.A.: Washington: In a speech to a joint session of Congress today, Winston Churchill gave a defiant and optimistic account of the progress of the war and the high strategy of the Alliance, and proclaimed that all war plans must be "pervaded and even dominated by the supreme object to get to grips with the enemy."

Mr. Churchill, who first addresses a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives in December 1941, was greeted by cheering lasting for a minute and a half before he spoke. His 50-minute speech was heard clearly in London by radio. The first cheers during it came when the British prime minister said "our partnership has not done badly". He was cheered again when he promised his government's determination to fight the Japanese in Burma. But he went on to say that in January 1942, when Britain and the United States made a division of labour, the US undertook the main responsibility for fighting Japan while "we took the main burden in the Atlantic." He and President Roosevelt agreed, Mr. Churchill said, that "while the defeat of Japan would not mean the defeat of Germany, the defeat of Germany would infallibly mean the defeat of Japan."

Destroyer USS Sproston commissioned.

Destroyer escort USS Schmitt launched.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-954 sunk in the North Atlantic SE of Cape Farewell, Greenland in position 54.54N, 34.19W, by depth charges from corvettes HMS Jed and Sennen escorting convoy SC-130. Among the crew of 47 who perished was Admiral Dönitz' younger son, Peter.

U-273 sunk SW of Iceland, in position 59.25N, 24.33W, by depth charges from an RAF 269 Sqn Hudson. 46 dead (all hands lost).

At 1130, the Canadian-flagged barquentine Angelus was stopped by U-161 north of Bermuda and sunk by gunfire after the crew of ten men abandoned ship in a lifeboat. When USS Turner found the boat after five days; only two of them were still alive, the others had died from exposure. The survivors were landed at Portland ME on 27 May 1943.

19 May 1944

May 19th, 1944 (FRIDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM:

The USAAF's Eighth Air Force in England flies Mission 358: 888 bombers and 700 fighters in two forces are dispatched to hit targets in Germany; very heavy cloud cover forces the bombers to use H2X PFF methods; Luftwaffe resistance is heavy and 28 bombers and 19 fighters are lost; U.S. fighters claim 77-0-33 Luftwaffe aircraft:

- 588 B-17s are dispatched to Berlin; 495 hit the primary, 49 hit the port area at Kiel and one hits a target of opportunity; 16 B-17s are lost.

Dick Johnson remembers his second combat mission:

Mission Memory: My first mission on May 15 was a true "Milk Run," no more dangerous than delivering milk. Today, May 15 is my second mission and the target is to be BERLIN. No milk run today!

I rejoined my pilot, "Bud" Beiser who had flown the May 19 mission with an experienced pilot just as I had done. This is SOP in most groups in order to teach the new guys all the tricks to getting in position in a large group.

Each B-17 from our group (303rd Bomb Group, Hells Angels) was loaded with 2,700 gallons of gasoline and 12, 500 pound bombs. Kiel was to be our secondary target in case Berlin was socked in. Our escort was P-38s and the older P-51s and they kept us pretty clear of German fighters. But with not enough range to go to Berlin they all dropped off just past Hamburg. However, we never saw enemy planes, but the flak was unbelievable. It was like a solid black line that we had to fly through. One of our planes (Lt. E.L. Roth in "Sky Duster") in the number 3 position received a direct burst just after bombs away at 26,000 ft. We counted five parachutes from the stricken plane.

We were in position number 5 and our plane was forced out of position by about a hundred feet which put us directly behind the lead plane of the group and when he released his bombs we flew directly through his marker smoke which ruined all the plexiglass. Maybe it was a MILK RUN after all since all the plexiglass was like milk. It made it difficult to fly the plane when we had to look mostly out the side window glass. We got a few flak holes but were listed as major damage due to the ruined plexiglass. Only four of nineteen planes of our group escaped damage of some sort.

We had to fly home in formation very carefully as visibility was very limited.

He was forced off his marker because we were flying off our lead and he was flying too close behind his leader.

And since we were off his wing it put us directly behind the Wing leader who was about a thousand feet ahead of us and 500 feet above us.

The lead plane of every wing carried sky markers so that the following formations could see the target area. Many observers have thought that those were rocket trails that the Germans were firing at us and when, after 24 missions as copilot, I went to pilot in command I took new crews on their first mission the same way Beiser and I had done. Nearly always a crew member would shout on the innercom 'They're shooting rockets at us' which I had to correct.

(Dick Johnson, Old Fort Driver)

- 300 B-24s are dispatched to the industrial area at Brunswick; 272 hit the primary and one bombs a target of opportunity; 12 B-24s are lost.

Escort is provided by 155 P-38 Lightnings, 182 P-47 Thunderbolts and 363 P-51 Mustangs of the Eighth Air Force and 264 Ninth Air Force aircraft; the P-38s claim 0-0-2 Luftwaffe aircraft in the air and 1-0-0 on the ground, the P-47s claim 29-0-16 in the air and 2-0-0 on the ground and the P-51s claim 41-0-5 in the air and 4-0-10 on the ground; 4 P-38s, 4 P-47s and 11 P-51s are lost.

GERMANY: Stalag Luft III: In one of the worst atrocities of the war involving PoWs, the Gestapo has shot 50 Allied airmen who were recaptured after escaping from a prison camp near Sagan, in Silesia, in March. The killings were without doubt carried out on Hitler's orders. Told of the escape of 79 PoWs, the Fuhrer screamed abuse at Himmler - the head of the Gestapo - and made him personally responsible for their recapture.

Only three of the PoWs - two Norwegians and a Dutchman - have reached England; they got to Stettin, on the river Oder, and got on a ship to Sweden. Others got as far as Saarbrucken, near the French border, before being retaken. All were handed over to the Gestapo instead of the to the Luftwaffe as required by the Geneva Convention. The killings took place at Gorlitz prison, near Dresden.

Twenty men were sent back to Stalag Luft III, where they told fellow PoWs of the killings. The Germans have warned the PoWs that all areas within several miles of camps are now "death zones"; anybody entering these areas without authority will be shot on sight.

One man still in the camp is the Canadian pilot Wally Moody, the mining engineer who applied his skills to design the escape tunnel; the alarm was sounded before his turn came to use the tunnel.

U-2328 laid down.

BALTIC SEA: On this day U-1014 rammed U-1015 west of Pillau, sinking her with the loss of 36 men (14 survived).

ITALY: US troops occupy Gaeta and Monte Grande.

The USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force in Italy dispatches 500+ B-17s and B-24s to hit communications targets, ports, and oil storage in northeastern, central and western Italy; B-17s hit oil storage facilities at Porto Marghera and railroad bridges at Casarea, Latisana and Rimini; B-24s hit port areas at La Spezia and Leghorn; fighters fly 250+ sorties in support. These operations are notable for the absence of enemy fighter opposition.

At the Turchino Pass outside Genoa the SS shoot 59 Italian captives from the Marassi Prison in Genoa in revenge for an attack on a movie theatre for German troops four days earlier that killed five German soldiers and injured 15. One of those present is senior Nazi official SS Major Friedrich Engel. He claims the German navy ordered the shootings.

The prisoners were bound in pairs and forced to walk onto a plant laid over the open grave, where they were shot. The victims then fell into the pit, on top of he freshly killed bodies. (Lisa Arns AP)

MEDITERRANEAN SEA: U-960 sunk in the Mediterranean NW of Algiers, in position 37.20N, 01.35E, by destroyers USS Niblack and Ludlow and RAF 36 and 500 Sqn Wellingtons. 31 dead and 20 survivors.

At 1755, the Fort Missanabie in Convoy HA-43, was torpedoed and sunk by U-453 south of Taranto. The master, ten crewmembers and one gunner were lost. 35 crewmembers and 13 gunners were picked up by the Norwegian merchantman Spero and Italian corvette Urania and landed at Augusta, Sicily. The Fort Missanabie was the last success of U-boats in the Mediterranean.

BURMA: Pte. Clifford Elwood, of High Street, Nantyfyllon, Bridgend, Glamorganshire, and Bugler Robert Hunt, of King Street, Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, both stretcher-bearers, were returning to their lines on the Arakan front with a casualty when they heard a rustling in the bushes and the click of a rifle-bolt.
Out into their path stepped a 6ft. Japanese with his rifle at the ready. He looked straight at the two men and the third man they carried on the stretcher, and then without a word or gesture dropped the muzzle of his rifle and stepped back into the jungle.

London Evening Mail

PACIFIC OCEAN: Rear Admiral Alfred E. Montgomery's Task Group 58.6, consisting of the aircraft carriers USS Essex (CV-9), with Carrier Air Group Fifteen (CVG-15), and USS Wasp (CV-18), with CVG-14, attack Marcus Island in the North Pacific. The new light aircraft carrier USS Jacinto (CVL-30), with Light Carrier Air Group 51 (CVLG-51), is detached to the north to screen for the rest of the force. Two of the purposes of the raid are to test new target-briefing procedures and also determine the effect of high-velocity attack rockets (HVARs) on ground targets.

The Japanese establish a line of submarines in the South Pacific (Operation "NA") to intercept USN aircraft carriers however, the USN has deduced the purpose and location of these subs based on radio traffic analysis. On 18 May 1944, the destroyer escort USS England (DE-635, Lt. Commander Walton B. Pendleton) got underway with two other destroyers and during the next eight days, she sinks five of the submarines, starting with HIJMS I-16 (Lt. Commander Yoshitaka Takeuchi) today. (Jack McKillop and Dave Shirlaw)

CANADA: HMC MTB 746 commissioned.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-172 was commissioned. She was assigned to the Southwest Pacific area and sunk two miles off Mugil Point on Cape Croisilles, New Guinea.

U.S.A.: The Undersecretary of the Navy, James V. Forrestal, becomes the Secretary of the Navy.

Submarine USS Spot launched.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-161 was withdrawn from Coast Guard manning on 19 May 1944 and turned over to the Army, the Los Angeles office having cognizance. Later arriving at San Francisco, she was turned over to the USSR under Lend-Lease.

Coast Guard-manned Army vessel FS-175 was commissioned. She was assigned to and operated in the Southwest Pacific area.

19 May 1945

May 19th, 1945 (SATURDAY)

UNITED KINGDOM: Minesweeper HMS Pyrrhus launched.

GERMANY: Flensburg: Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi Party's unofficial philosopher, responsible for formulating the party's race policies, is arrested.

Hermann Göring is captured by forces of the American Seventh Army. (Gene Hanson)

MIDDLE EAST: French troops arrive in Syria and Lebanon, sparking off nationalist demonstrations

NEW GUINEA: Australian forces capture Wewak, the last Japanese-held port on the mainland, after a bitter struggle.

JAPAN: As 272 B-29s today hit Hamamatsu on Mission 178, it was revealed that a quarter of Nagoya, Japan's main aircraft-manufacturing city, has been flattened by two raids in the last week.

The aircraft, from the USAAF's Twentieth Air Force based on the Mariana Islands, also made an abortive raid on aircraft industry targets in Tachikawa. 14 others hit targets of opportunity; four B-29s are lost.

The raids on the two cities are the start of attacks on Japan's secondary industrial centres with populations under 200,000.

Reconnaissance photos released today revealed the results of two fire-bomb raids by fleets of over 450 B-29s, the largest so far to strike at mainland Japan, which hit Nagoya three and five days ago, setting fire to 5.9 square miles of the city. Since incendiary attacks began, nearly 60 square miles of Japanese cities have been wiped out. Nagoya's Aichi aircraft works and two other key factories were destroyed, while Mitsubishi's aircraft plant, the world's largest, was damaged. Results of today's high-explosive raid on Hamamatsu, 120 miles from Tokyo, are not known. Bombs were dropped through the clouds from medium altitude using precision instruments.

RYUKU ISLANDS: Ie Shima: VII Fighter Command, United States' Seventh Air Force bases the 413th Fighter Group flying P-47Ns on this island.

CHINA: Foochow: Japanese troops today abandoned the east coast treaty port of Foochow, seven months after capturing it. Two other east-coast ports, Amoy and Swatow, have also been abandoned, their forces retreating to Hong Kong, confirming reports that Tokyo has ordered a strategic withdrawal from south China. Since the US recapture of the Philippines these ports have come within US bomber range. In the event of an invasion these garrisons would be isolated, cut off from support from Japan or Formosa.

CANADA: The only submarine to be operated by the RCN during the war is commissioned. HMCS Esquimault is the former U-190. (Dave Hornford)

U.S.A.: Escort carrier USS Salerno Bay commissioned.

U-873 commander, Kptlt Friedrich Steinhoff, committed suicide while being kept in a street prison in Boston instead of a POW camp.

Corvette HMCS Barrie departed New York with Convoy HX-357.

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